when you are building a website, or redesigning it, you may need to take the page offline. At this point, you need to let your potential customers and clients know whats happening. This is where an under construction website page is used. But how can this be designed effectively? Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester, we are Manchester’s leading web design professionals. We work with a variety of companies across Manchester, and the North West, including those in Blackburn and Chorley, to provide high quality web design solutions. As a result, we have produced this guide to everything you should know about the important considerations when designing under construction web pages.
Why are under construction pages important?
Under construction pages are those that are displayed when anyone follows a link to your website, when this is not online or live at that particular time. Whether it’s routine maintenance, a big website update, or you haven’t launched the website yet, the under construction page act as a placeholder and lets your potential customers or clients know what is happening with your website. This can be important for a number of reasons, including:
- Redirecting interested website users to other ways to contact you, or find out about your products or services. Whether this is your company email or telephone number, or your social media platforms, you can capture the initial interest of the website user and redirect this, so that they will be more likely to come back once your website is up and running.
- Emphasizing company branding with the design of the page, including imagery, colours and typography. If your website is yet to launch, this could be the first impression many people have your brand, and it could be a great way to start to build positive consumer relationships.
What are the most important design features for under construction website pages?
There are a number of things to consider when designing this page, including:
- Company branding- an effective under construction or coming soon page will be well branded. Use company colours, your company logo and imagery that reflects the type of company persona or brand that you are trying to create.
- Including contact details or social media- Instead of simply leaving your website, your website users could be tempted to follow a social link to find out more about your company, and what you can offer. Alternatively, they may reach out directly through email, quick contact form, or phone. Make sure this information is bold, visible and difficult to miss without being over-imposing.
- Using imagery- not only should your imagery be appropriate to your company branding, but this should also be the main design feature. The under construction page shouldn’t use much text, and should instead be very visual. Choose professional high quality imagery that really stands out and most importantly can intrigue any website users that land on this page.
- Make communication clear- customers and clients appreciate clear communication. Make sure you clearly communicate what this page is. If your website is undergoing maintenance, use this is as the heading, and the same for construction. If your website is about to launch, tell your website users when to come back, and what to expect.
For more information or for professional web design support, get in touch with the team today, here at Pumpkin Web Design Manchester.